Stopping feasting squirrels??

[Stan1966]

I have 4 (yes, four) trailers. Two of them (a 8x20 enclosed and a 4x7 utility converted to bike hauler) have been the subject of, evidently, squirrel banquets.

After sitting all winter, I noticed wires dangling yesterday. Upon close inspection, vast amounts of wires are GONE!

Short of running wires through conduit or maybe brake line, is there another way to stop the feasting? Lots of squirrels in this neighborhood, so BB's or 22's are OUT!

 

[CJM8515]

Moth balls, hang them in a sock sized pantyhose on various parts of the trailer and toss them under and around trailer. The critters will stay away.

 

[stokefire7]

...or change the little bastards diet.

 

[Bondo]

...or change the little bastards diet.

Ayuh,.... To Decon Rat Pellets,.....

 

[MFolks]

Squirrels, or the local copper thief, funding his addition?

 

[BFBOB]

In my case, it was raccoons, but in the end the only thing that worked was judicious application of a .410.

 

[Jagmandave]

Well, since you'll be replacing the wiring anyway, take this as an opportunity to re-engineer the wiring setup - run the wires inside the trailer, or at least inside the frames (if it's tubing) or in brake lines or EMT like you said, then have them terminate at a receptacle - then all you need is a pigtail to connect to the tow vehicle. If there is nothing exposed for them to eat, they'll leave it alone.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Mothballs don't do much for deterring rodents. Squirrels are very determined and will keep coming back. The only real way to get rid of the problem is to get rid of the squirrels.

 

[Catadj78]

"Choot em"

 

[CNGsaves]

Squirrels . . . aka bushy tail rats . . . . deserve to get plenty of "food" that send them to same demise as rats.

I mix batches of peanut butter mixed with rat poison and place where the little bastages are scampering about my property. When I hear them jump from tree to my roof, I get REAAAAAAAALLLLLLYYYY motivated and mix a batch for EACH tree !!!

Not a better site in the world than dead squirrel laying in the yard or street !!

 

[toplessHO]

"Choot em"

"Lizabath"

juicy fruit gum still in the package
they eat it and cant poop.
wont hurt dogs, cats like the rat poison will

 

[Lassen Forge]

Strangely, the neighbor has had all kinds of problems with them eating insulation, and goes out weekly with his airgun to make sure they have plenty of lead in their diet.

I ignore the things, and they've left us alone. One did get into the rat bait box, crawled under the barn and died, but they've never given us the grief they give the neighbor. We had issues with hte field mice, but between the cat and the traps they seem to be kept at bay.

I think they're getting back at him for shooting their kinfolk.

 

[upgrading]

Not a better site in the world than dead squirrel laying in the yard or street !!

Except when this sight is the result of a useless squirrel getting itself electrocuted on a power line and causing a local power outage.

 

[E.Marquez]

Had um in my attack last few months
Tried traps but they refused that habitation offer
I won't do poison as we have three large dogs that own the front fenced 6 acres.... Can't have a pup earring the dead rodent.
So the air rifle was left in the garage and when I'm out there I just wait for the dogs to tree one or get them to corner them selfs on the side of the house then shootum

Toss body over the back fence into our lower property and let nature takes its course

As for the wiring diet

Yes protect it with conduit

 

[plow]

so BB's or 22's are OUT!

Have you tried talking to them to settle your differences and come up with a reasonable solution to both of y'alls problems?

 

[UpstateNY]

I've shot 140 of 'em in the past year on my wooded property, they keep coming but I'm winning the war.

 

[kbs2244]

I would rewire inside some kind of hose or conduit.
I read somewhere that a lot of wire nodays is made with soybean based plastic insulation.
They can smell and taste the soy and that is why they are chewing it.
I do not know where you would go to find out what kind of plastic is used on some wire before you buy it.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

If you can't shoot them, trapping them works well.

 

[filtered]

They ate the propane lines on my fathers RV. So we split garden hose down one side and used that to cover the gas lines. Zip tie it every 12" or so and covered every inch of it we could see. It's worked well for the past 2 years.

 

[mhm993]

Wires on my trailer are all wrapped in hard plastic loom tubing and it's effective on rodents. I imagine they sell it in bulk at Harbor Fright.

In our case, we live in the woods and it was chipmunks and squarels eating engine harnesses. There's little you can really do to stop rodents (a pet mountain lion?) ....I "had to" build a three car garage and spend a small fortune to defeat the rat bastards.

 

[Tim37]

Trap them
A little flour and grease
Good eatin

 

[teal95]

How about getting rid of those funny black cats with a white stripe? Poison sounds earned to me but how do I keep from poisoning the birds? It seems to be mainly feeding on what the birds toss off under the bird feeders.

 

[ThePress]

I know a guy who leaves food spiked with laxatives. He said it has worked on squirrels, raccoons, and mice/rats

 

[randomthought1]

I am a park ranger at a city rv park and i hear of this problem quite frequently, the solution that is most often effective is peppermint oil.

 

[plow]

 

[safariknut]

I have a Jack Russell Terrier so squirrels and chipmunks have all but disappeared from here. I don't know if this would work with squirrels but it surely works with mice. I have an 18 gallon plastic trash receptacle that I took the lid off and sat in the garage.Put about 6 inches of water in the bottom and about halfway up the side smeared some peanut butter on each side.Sat it next to the stairs leading to the house so they have an easy jump to the rim.They fall in and drown.The plastic will not allow them to grip with their claws. Caught a ton of them this way. Make sure you check it frequently as they do tend to smell bad if left in for more than a couple days.
This would probably work equally well with squirrels and chipmunks as they need a base to jump from and if you make the water deep enough they won't have that.

 

[James E]

I have no idea in what context that cake was made, served or consumed but my 12 year old son and I got a big kick out of it.

 

[Model A Fan]

Tannerite in the food then shoot them!

But seriously, growing up, my Dad would hang blood meal in pantyhose and that kept deer and other pests from eating and climbing in our apple trees.

 

[mikeburris]

I have no idea in what context that cake was made, served or consumed but my 12 year old son and I got a big kick out of it.

If only the candle/firecracker was lit!!

 

[jclem40c]

awhile back the companies that make the wire started to make the insulation out of vegetable oil so its kinda like string cheese for rodents. The best solution to me is to run the wires in conduit so they can't get to it.

 

[KEH]

I have been told by a friend that black oil sunflower seed works well as bait in a live trap. I don't want to go to the trouble to have a container of water that will hold the whole trap so they can be drowned. Don't want to try shooting them as that might damage the trap. My idea is to cover the trap with squirrel inside with plastic, then lift an edge and spray ether(starting fluid) in there, which should at lease make the squirrel go to sleep long enough to dump him out and dispose of him. Probably a long exposure to that would put him to sleep permanently. i haven't tried any of this yet, will report back if it works.

KEH

 

[E.Marquez]

If you can't shoot them, trapping them works well.

Not apparently for me.. three traps various "bait" all i caught was ants

However problem solved .. the dogs chased one down, and then over the next few days made it an art form of getting them to move up the side of the house and freeze there waiting out the dogs so the could get to the opening in the eav ... one dog stayed locked on the others came inside and yelled at me,,, pellet gun finished the task..
Once was a coincidence, but three times in two days,,,no they learned how to make dad happy and did it again and again.. last one of 5 in four days made a run for a live oak next to the house and treed itself with 3 large dogs at the base ensuring he was not coming down... that one took two shots shooting through foliage.
Have not heard a rodent up in the attic since last week.

 

[Professur]

Trap them
A little flour and grease
Good eatin

This. Trapping them to release them elsewhere just teaches them to avoid the cages.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

E.Marquez; that's a funny story. I'm willing to bet traps would have worked pretty well if applied correctly. As a side note I have caught three squirrels in the last two weeks with no bait in the trap.......don't ask me how, I don't know.

 

[TheModelAGuy]

We were plagued with hundreds where I worked and used this combo:
Road flare in their dens, esp in spring before the little ones pop out.
Live trap with bait after the grass dried out and we couldn't use flares. They will die in the trap within an hour or so in the sun.
Cats/dogs will keep them at bay.
And positive reinforcement (22 cal LR)
While a yearly exercise, the benefit during the year there were so few the cats could easily keep up.

 

[langss]

I have personal experience that the judicious use of a paintball gun will make cats, skunks, racoons, possums, squirrels, even noisy birds, think twice about visiting. They all get the message. I have an inexpensive Big 5 gun, but one from Walmart is also a good choice. Its funny to see the cats later on with the color of the fill you shot them with.

 

[BioNerd]

Freeze your balls

 

[uzegnaramo]

The only real way to get rid of the problem is to get rid of the squirrels.

 

[txturbo]

Cats help....but I mostly just shoot them. Squirrel is good crock pot food.

 

[MScott]

Cats help....but I mostly just shoot them. Squirrel is good crock pot food.

You must be talking about black or grey squirrels. I remember trying red squirrel (the main problem around here) as a kid and it had a terrible pine flavour, probably from their main diet of pine seeds.